บท 2: Chapter 2 Donation
"I'm not hungry." Tong Yao lifted the blanket and got out of bed, "I'm going to the toilet."
"Oh, okay."
Si Boyi's face turned red all the way to his neck, and he scurried out in fluster.
Tong Yao didn't notice Si Boyi's unusual behavior. His skin was tanned from years of labor, so even when he blushed, it was hardly noticeable. Plus, he was quite burly, with the look of a farmer, so he didn't seem like the kind of person to be bashful.
The countryside toilets were built behind the houses and the conditions were extremely poor, swarms of mosquitoes and flies were present. Tong Yao avoided the wiggling maggots in the excrement pit, and endured the stench to finish her business. Just as she stepped outside, she heard a conversation overhead.
[Everyone is donating money to the poor student at the village head's house, so no one's drying their grains today.]
[We can't dry any grains anyway, it's going to rain tonight.]
But the weather was sunny and bright, how could it rain at night?
Wait, who was speaking?
Tong Yao looked around and noticed two little birds on a branch overhead. Their sharp beaks opened and closed as they chatted about gossip.
[Why is this woman staring at us? She's not planning on catching a bird, is she? We should get going!]
After speaking, the two birds flapped their wings and flew away. Tong Yao was dumbstruck on the spot, she could understand the birds' conversation.
[Mmm, this is delicious.]
Another voice came from nearby, she looked down just in time to spot a mosquito on her arm, feasting on her blood, all while humming contentedly.
After having experienced time travel, Tong Yao quickly accepted the fact that she could understand animal speech. When she returned to the courtyard, she overheard a conversation between Lin Fengying and her son in the kitchen.
"Mother, Hongwei got admitted to university. The village head has summoned everyone to help finance Hongwei's education. We should also show our support, right?"
Lin Fengying hesitated, cradling the one and half cent in her pocket. It's not that she didn't want to contribute, but she only had a little over two hundred yuan in savings, all of which had been taken by Tong Yao.
Her elder son started working less than a year ago and had already given all his earnings to the family, so she felt bad about asking him for more money.
"Those new shoes I made for you and your brother, you guys haven't worn them yet, right? After dinner, why don't we go give them away?"
"….." Si Boyi felt that offering only two pairs of shoes was insufficient, but remembering how Lin Fengying couldn't even scrape together a single yuan earlier, he could only nod in agreement.
After listening to their conversation, Tong Yao quietly returned to her room.
Hongwei, Gu Hongwei, Si Chen, Tong Yao, doctor, impoverished university student.
Linking these keywords together, Tong Yao's eyes widened in realization. She had time-traveled into the body of Si Chen's wife!
Tong Yao felt even more dumbfounded than when she was struck by lightning.
Before too long, Lin Fengying entered the room to call Tong Yao for dinner. Lunch was hand-rolled noodles made by mixing soy flour with wheat flour. Being from the 21st century where food was abundant, where she was used to eating rice and steamed buns, these noodles presented a whole new flavor to Tong Yao.
She ate a big bowl of noodles and found an egg at the bottom of the bowl. She glanced at Lin Fengying and Si Boyi's bowls and instantly understood what was going on.
This special treatment was for her alone.
Si Boyi and Lin Fengying were puzzled to see how pleasantly surprised Tong Yao was by the meal and how she wasn't picky. Had there been a change in her attitude?
Usually, Tong Yao would only eat noodles made from pure wheat flour. But due to a shortage of wheat flour at home and no money to buy more, Lin Fengying had to mix two types of flour together to make hand-rolled noodles.
Meeting their surprised glances, Tong Yao smiled and asked, "Mom, why hasn't Xiaohui come home for dinner?"
Lin Fengying paused, startled. Did Yaoyao just call her 'mom' again?
Initially, she thought Tong Yao had slipped up, but when she used the word again, Lin Fengying happily replied, "Don't worry about her, she's probably gone to play at Lijuan's house."
Si Boyi looked at Tong Yao again. She was now willing to call someone 'mom', had she accepted his big brother?
For some reason, Si Boyi felt a bit uneasy.
Noticing Tong Yao glancing at him, he quickly lowered his head to slurp his noodles, but Tong Yao, preoccupied with her thoughts, did not pay him any attention.
The reason behind Si Xiaohui's strong aversion to the original owner had to do with her fondness for Gu Hongwei. With the money now stolen, Si Xiaohui found herself unable to financially support Gu Hongwei's university studies.
"Yaoyao, let me get you some more rice," Lin Fengying could see that Tong Yao's appetite was not yet sated, and offered to help her to another bowl.
Tong Yao shook her head, "No need, Mom, I'm full."
Lin Fengying was left dizzy from the unexpected title of 'Mom' thrown at her by Tong Yao and happily cleared the dishes to the kitchen.
Having never called her 'Mom' before, the sudden change led her to believe that Tong Yao must have had a change of heart and was now willing to live a good life with her eldest son.
Good, how great it was. The loss of more than 200 yuan was worth it after all.
A mix of emotions surged inside Si Boyi. He got up from the table and headed out of the house with his head hung low.
Tong Yao returned to her room. Shortly after she heard Lin Fengying calling out that she was stepping out and would return soon. She knew Lin Fengying was going to make a visit to the village chief's house. As soon as she heard the voice, Tong Yao started rummaging for the money after removing her clothes.
Two flies buzzing overhead conversing, seemingly discussing whether it would rain tonight.
Animals were indeed more sensitive. Was it really going to rain tonight?
But right now, she needed to retrieve the money first.
For fear of the money being discovered, the original owner had sewn it into the hem of her pants. It took her a while to remove it.
The entrance to the village chief, Liu Huayi's house, was crowded with people. After dinner with nothing better to do, all the villagers had gathered to watch the commotion—almost every household had shown up with a donation.
"Why hasn't anyone from Fengying's household turned up yet?"
Among the crowd, someone asked this question, sparking immediate discussion among the villagers.
"Fengying's family should at least donate ten yuan. After all, her eldest son now earns quite a bit as a doctor."
"We didn't contribute when her eldest son was studying. It's not right to coerce them morally now."
"That's because her son met a great benefactor."
The last speaker wore a mocking smile at the corners of his mouth.
Obviously, word would spread quickly in such a small village. Any news, big or small, would spread through the villages in less time than it would take to finish a meal.
Who else could you call the village's communication representative if not the elderly?
Lin Fengying, widowed at a young age, was often bullied in the village. Who would have thought that her eldest son, against odds, managed to study medicine at a university and become a doctor.
Over the past decades, their village had only ever produced one university graduate. How precious was that?
Of course, with admiration came envy, especially as Si Chen married Tong Yao. There were plenty in the village who enjoyed nothing more than to gossip about them.
A golden phoenix in a chicken coop was bound to attract attention and judgement.
As the villagers conversed, only when they saw Lin Fengying and her son did they stop talking.
One outspoken villager bluntly asked, "I heard your daughter-in-law took the money this morning and ran off with another man. Do you still have enough funds to donate?"
Lin Fengying's expression changed instantly. Before she could speak, Si Boyi scolded with a stern face. "What are you folks blabbering about? All you do is sit around and spread gossip."
Silenced by his rebuke, the chattering women fell quiet.
Lin Fengying was soft-spoken, too timid to argue with them. She placed her shoes on the table in front of the village head. The village head did the registration and looked up to ask, "How much are you donating?"
"We won't donate." Lin Fengying responded, her eyes downcast and face red, either from heat or embarrassment; as red as the setting sun.
"Fengying, your family is doing so well now, and Si Chen is a doctor at the hospital. It's unreasonable not to donate anything. I, an old bachelor, donated five yuan." The man was Li Guigen, a bachelor in the village who once considered marrying Lin Fengying. Still, she rejected him despite her three children, leaving him bearing a grudge. He took this chance to further humiliate her in public.
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